The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 159, May 28, 2023 (V4 #3)
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.—Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
She always sips from
a dipper of Muddy
Waters and has slices
of watermelon praises
before departing.
—from “Mississippi Delta,” in Five Poems, Sterling Plumpp, Evergreen
Books, Music, Culture
The Freedom to Read: In an age of book bans and censorship, it’s time we cultivated some moral imagination, Emily Chamlee-Wright, Persuasion, 5/26/23: “The freedom to publish, of course, is also the freedom to read.”
Tina Turner, Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Dies at 83 (1939-2023), Josh Jackson, Paste, 5/24/23: “Turner’s career spanned nearly all of the second half of the 20th century and beyond, but received most of her acclaim during the 1980s when she released hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “Private Dancer” from her 1984 album Private Dancer.”
Stephen Satterfield Puts Black Cuisine at the Center of U.S. History: The host of Netflix’s “High on the Hog” draws seductive stories from a bittersweet legacy, Dorothy Wickenden, New Yorker, 5/24/23: “Whoever tells the story owns it.”
On the Legacies of Love Passed Down Through Food: Plus a Free Recipe for 7 Up Pound Cake from the Author of Why Fathers Cry at Night, Kwame Alexander, LitHub, 5/23/23
Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges: An analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows the majority were filed by just 11 people, Hannah Natanson, Washington Post, 5/23/23: “Individuals who filed 10 or more complaints were responsible for two-thirds of all challenges.”
A Fla. school restricted Amanda Gorman’s book. Here’s what to know, Maham Javaid, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 5/24/23: “So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with [Oprah Winfrey], fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives.”
Florida mother behind ban on Amanda Gorman poem has Proud Boys links: Social media posts picture Daily Salinas at Proud Boys events and show she posted antisemitic content online, Maya Yang, The Guardian, 5/25/23 Ed: Why is anyone surprised to learn this?
Tennessee Speaker appoints conspiracy theorist to develop state social studies standards, Rebecca Crosby, Tesnim Zekeria, Popular Information, 5/25/23: “Endorsed by the right-wing parents group Moms for Liberty, Cardoza-Moore has also frequently accused schools of indoctrinating students—despite the fact that all five of her children were homeschooled.”
The Two Constitutions: James Oakes’s deeply researched book argues that two very different readings of the 1787 charter put the United States on a course of all but inevitable conflict, David W. Blight, NY Review of Books, 6/8/23 issue. Book: The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution
The mind-body problem was discovered by a princess: Philosophical letters from a possible Renaissance romance, Erik Hoel, Intrinsic Perspective, 5/23/23: “Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia—the first person to fully understand the paradoxical nature of the mind-problem, a mathematician, the possible romantic interest of Descartes, and an eventual abbess—was born in 1618.”
The Dank Underground: In the late Sixties, countercultural media was distributed by the Underground Press Syndicate and bankrolled by marijuana, J. Hoberman, NY Review of Books, 5/26/23: “The medium was never more the message.”
If you defend free speech, you must defend it all and not silence those you disagree with: Ministers trumpet their law against ‘no-platforming’ in universities, but that doesn’t stop them disinviting critics from their own conferences, Kenan Malik, The Guardian, 5/29/23
She burns like a shot glass of vodka.
She burns like a field of poppies
at the edge of a rain forest.
She rises like dragonsmoke
to my nostrils.
She burns like a burning bush
driven by a godawful wind.
—from “You and I Are Disappearing,” Yosef Komunyakaa
Politicks
Biden, McCarthy reach ‘agreement in principle’ to raise debt ceiling as default looms, Tony Romm, Theodoric Meyer, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post, 5/27/23. Ed note: Gee, another manufactured crisis averted. Everyone is relieved, but really, we should all be angry. And it’s not even a done deal. More theater to come (see next link)
The Debt Ceiling Is Just “Two Santas” in Drag: Republicans are dropping their Two Santas bomb right onto President Joe Biden’s head. It worked against Clinton & Obama and the media never caught on. Why wouldn’t they use it again? Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 5/25/23: “RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told Fox News that the U.S. potentially defaulting on its debt ‘bodes very well for the Republican field.’”
Who's Funding 'No Labels'? Pro-GOP Billionaires Opposed to Democracy: "At the end of the day, these billionaires and large corporations are deeply invested in maintaining the status quo and opposing Democrats' agenda for working people,” Julia Conley, Common Dreams, 5/23/23: “While claiming to represent the interests of most voters, No Labels' mission statement suggests that those ideas are embraced only by "the extreme."”
Mika Westwolf matters, Judd Legum, Popular Information, 5/23/23: “In the early morning of March 31, Mika Westwolf, a 22-year-old Indigenous woman, was walking on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 93, which passes through the Flathead reservation in Montana. Westwolf was struck by a Cadillac Escalade and declared dead at the scene. The driver of the vehicle, Sunny White, is an alleged white nationalist.”
Red States Stand to Benefit From a ‘Layer Cake’ of Tax Breaks From Inflation Reduction Act: The new law has stackable tax credits, including an “energy communities” bonus to help places that lost fossil fuel jobs, that could reduce clean energy project costs by 40% to 70%, Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News, 5/11/23
Right-Wing US Supreme Court Delivers 'Catastrophic Loss for Water Protections:’ The court "ripped the heart out of the law we depend on to protect American waters and wetlands," said one critic, warning that the ruling "will cause incalculable harm,” Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, 5/25/23
The Cruel Irrationality of Our ‘Deserved vs. Undeserved Poor’ Moral Framework in Two Paragraphs: A Washington Post report on the senior homelessness crisis somehow manages to avoid the solution of “just give them homes,” Adam Johnson, The Column, 5/25/23
What Jack Smith knows, Zachary Basu, Axios, 5/23/23: "I think this is a tight obstruction case," former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb also told CNN last week. "Yes, I do think he will go to jail on it."
Russia and Saudi Arabia's Devious Plan to F**k the 2024 Election on Trump’s Behalf? There is a solution and we need your help. Do it for the planet, for your children and grandchildren, and to prevent Putin and MBS from teaming up with the GOP again to screw Democrats in 2024…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 5/23/23: “So, reach out to your members of Congress and let them know it’s time to reinstate the crude oil export ban.”
‘They’re afraid their AIs will come for them’: Doug Rushkoff on why tech billionaires are in escape mode: The leading intellect on digital culture believes the recent tech reckoning is corrective justice for Silicon Valley barons, Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 5/28/23
You broke my heart
'Cause I couldn't dance
You didn't even want me around
And now I'm back, to let you know
I can really shake 'em down
—from “Do You Love Me,” The Contours, written by Berry Gordy
Science & Environment
More than two dozen cities and states are suing Big Oil over climate change – they just got a boost from the US Supreme Court, Patrick Parenteau, The Conversation, 5/23/23
Carbon notes #5: Green hydrogen, the "gas of the future"? Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 5/16/23: “What hydrogen exposes is that there is still huge uncertainty about many basic parameters of the low-carbon future, about the technologies that will emerge as dominant, the likely structure of prices and the patterns of supply and demand for key materials and other inputs.”
Heat Waves Are Breaking Records. Here's What You Need to Know, Andrea Thompson, Kelso Harper, Alexa Lim, Scientific American, 5/22/23
The Planet Can’t Sustain Rapid Growth Much Longer: Economic data expert Gaya Herrington says overconsumption has brought the world to a dangerous tipping point, but there’s still time to act, Bianca Nogrady, Wired, 5/22/23
James Hansen Warns of a Short-Term Climate Shock Bringing 2 Degrees of Warming by 2050: The famed researcher publicly released a preliminary version of a paper-in-progress with grim predictions of short- and long-term warming, but not all climate scientists agree with its conclusions, Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News, 5/26/23
We’ve reached a fork in the fertilizer road: Which path keeps food cheap and the world cool? More (but greener) fertilizer or less fertilizer (and less meat), Mark Harris, Anthropocene, 5/21/23
Engineered bacteria could decarbonize the chemical industry: “All you need to add is sugar and the cells do the rest” . . . enabling low-emissions manufacture of drugs and fuels, Prachi Patel, Anthropocene, 5/18/23
Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say: Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril, Oliver Millman, The Guardian, 5/23/23
What Can We Learn About Energy from Ancient Energy Revolutions? Tomas Pueyo, Uncharted Territories, 5/23/23: “What sources of energy have we mentioned so far? Wood, food, sun, wind, water… But if we think about it, all of these boil down to the Sun.”
What We Owe Our Trees: Forests fed us, housed us, and made our way of life possible. But they can’t save us if we can’t save them, Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 5/23/23: “They are…a reservoir, the source of life, the regulators of the climate.” (George Perkins Marsh)
Global loss of wildlife is ‘significantly more alarming’ than previously thought, according to a new study, Laura Paddison, CNN, 5/22/23
Scientists detected 5,000 sea creatures nobody knew existed. It’s a warning: The vast majority of animals in a potential deep-sea mining hot spot in the Pacific are new to science, according to an analysis published Thursday, Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, 5/25/23
Are Sea Cucumbers a Cleanup Solution to Fish Farm Pollution? Seafood farm operators are breeding and deploying sea cucumbers to vacuum up the massive amounts of fish waste that pose a major problem for their industry. It is part of an effort to redesign fish farms with multiple species so that they work more like natural ecosystems, Kiley Price, Yale Environment 360, 5/25/23
As climate change erodes land and health, one Louisiana tribe fights back, Barry Yeoman, Food & Environment Reporting Network, 5/22/23: “Coastal land loss has upended life in South Louisiana.”
Weird, Rare, and Everywhere: In the bogs of Hecate Island, British Columbia, a writer and novice naturalist joins researchers for a glimpse of a multiyear biodiversity mission—and gets acquainted with some odd organisms, Arno Kopecky, Hakai, 5/24/23
Do humans cause climate change? Even now, only half of Americans say yes, Daniel de Vise, The Hill, 5/25/23. Ed.: This may be our biggest problem right now, getting more people to pay attention to reality
How ‘Buy America’ could kill high-speed rail, Minho Kim, E&E News, 5/23/23: “…no domestic facility is currently capable of building specialized rail cars that can travel up to 200 mph.”
Why you should buy everything used, Michael J. Coren, Washington Post, 5/23/23: “If we do it right, we can slash the monumental environmental impact of all the stuff we buy.”
Humanoid Robots Are Coming of Age: A few years ago, humanoid robots were clumsy and awkward. Now several startups claim to have models almost ready to go to work in warehouses and factories, Will Knight, Wired, 5/25/23
There’s a rock in space that may help us unravel how life started, Kasha Patel, Washington Post, 5/26/23: “All life on Earth is connected…”
Supermassive black hole at heart of ancient galaxy ‘far larger than expected’: Discovery of GS-9209, one of the furthest from the Milky Way, adds to evidence that large black holes prevent star formation, astronomers say, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 5/26/23
The Physicist Who Glues Together Universes: Renate Loll has helped pioneer a radically new approach to quantum gravity. She assumes that the fabric of space-time is a blend of all possible fabrics, and she has developed the computational tools needed to calculate the far-reaching implications of that assumption, Charlie Wood, Quanta, 5/25/23
But mostly we’re forgetting we’re dead stars too, my mouth is full
of dust and I wish to reclaim the rising—
—from “Dead Stars,” Ada Limon
Health & Wellness
CDC Study Suggests Adults Without an Updated COVID-19 Booster Shot Have ‘Relatively Little’ Protection Against Hospitalization: Uptake of the updated shots has been much lower than experts had hoped, with just 20% of U.S. adults rolling up their sleeves for it, Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder, US News & World Report, 5/25/23
Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy? One reason: Doctors don't take them seriously, Kat Stafford, APNews, 5/23/23: “Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States”
Rhythmically stimulating the brain with electrical currents could boost cognitive function, according to analysis of over 100 studies, Shrey Grover, The Conversation, 5/24/23
Recycled and reused food contact plastics are ‘vectors’ for toxins – study: Research provides a unique review of contact chemicals in packaging, utensils, plates, etc and how they contaminate food, Tom Perkins, The Guardian, 5/27/23
Body, I said to you, how are you? I have been a lead soldier. The voice that
said it was not what it said. I almost swear by the road. But the segment,
the march loaded with clay, eyes of asphalt, hands of lime, legs of drill,
navels of cement, resounded, resounded, resounded—the anvils of the
hammer against the beams of the body—drilling, drilling, drilling me.
—from “Little Lead Soldiers,” Giannina Braschi
Birds
Hawaii’s Feral Chickens Are Out of Control: Polynesians brought chickens’ wild ancestors to the islands. Europeans brought domestic chickens. Now they’ve mixed, and are everywhere, Tove Danovich, The Atlantic, 5/24/23
The secret behind the female ecelctus parrot's flamboyant plumage: Often male birds are more colourful than their female counterparts, but the ecelctus parrot bucks the trend, as zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explains, Lucy Cooke, Discover Wildlife, 5/18/23
Not Winging It: Birders Hope Hard Data Will Help Save the Species They Love—and the Ecosystems Birds Depend On: Whether they’re staying for the summer or just passing through, birds are helping researchers study the environment and restore local habitats,Quinn Glabicki, Inside Climate News, 5/27/23
Geography of Vultures in the United States, Caitlin Dempsey, Geography Realm, 5/24/23: “A group of vultures in flight is known as a ‘kettle’. A group of vultures clustered on the ground or in trees is called a ‘committee.’”
Passages:
My brother-in-law, Ward Cridland, died yesterday at 61 in Syracuse, NY.
James O. Goldsborough, several of whose books I have published, died earlier this week at 86. Most recent novel came out May 6, The Devil’s Presence.
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died
—“People Who Died,” Jim Carroll
“The [Civil] war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African-Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.” —David Blight
Memorial Day is a remembrance for those who sacrificed, but also a day to remember (and celebrate) who we want to become, and pledge to make that happen. The future is born out of memory.
Thanks for reading and sharing The Weird Times, for keeping in touch, and for all your support. Stay strong, stay well, stay involved.
Much love to all — David